A SCOTS supermodel who was criticised for being too thin has admitted she had an eating disorder.

Airdrie-born Amanda Hendrick – who appeared on the cover of Vogue – was pulled from a clothes catalogue in 2011 because she looked underweight.

It sparked a massive debate on body image and healthy eating and at the time, she denied she suffered from an eating disorder.

But in a brave video blog Amanda, now 25, has admitted for the first time that she battled anorexia and a drug habit during her career.

It is unusual for a model to speak publicly about eating issues but in a video posted on her YouTube channel yesterday, she said: “I had anorexia for maybe four years and I was in complete denial the whole time. I didn’t even realise I had a problem.”

Amanda shot to worldwide fame in 2011 when a campaign for the Drop Dead Clothing range was banned by Advertising Standards.

They ruled that the pictures of Amanda in a bikini and denim shorts were “socially irresponsible”.

The watchdogs said one photo in “a stretched-out pose and heavy eye make-up, with hollows in her thighs and prominent thigh bones,” made her look underweight.

Amanda Hendrick

At the time, Amanda insisted: “Of course I don’t have an eating disorder. I’m a spiritual person. I look after myself because my body is a temple. I can put away more food than most people I know.

“I want to be a positive role model and to continue doing well in my job so I have to make sure I have a healthy and nutritious diet.”

When Amanda was in demand for fashion shoots in glossy mags, the 5ft 10ins model had a 24-inch waist.

Back then, Carol Sykes – owner of Drop Dead Clothing and mum of her then-boyfriend Oli Sykes – defended her decision to use the controversial shots and said young women should aspire to be like Amanda.

She said: “Amanda is not anorexic or unhealthy and eats a very good diet. She’s just naturally thin.

“Do I think people should aspire to be like her? Yes, because she is a beautiful person and jets around the world earning £600-plus a day.

“She’s got a successful career and no mental health problems.”

Sykes declined to comment on the YouTube revelations last night.

Amanda Hendrick at London Fashion Week 2012 (Image: WireImage)

Amanda’s mum Karen McComb had also defended her, saying: “She’s naturally very slim and could eat for Scotland without putting on a pound. If I thought she was being unhealthy in terms of food or lack of sleep, I’d be the first to raise it.

“You only need to see her bright eyes and gorgeous skin to realise she’s more than healthy.”

But now Amanda has revealed that when she was fighting anorexia, she didn’t communicate properly with her family or friends about it.

She said yesterday: “I was such an angry person, so if any one of my friends and family tried to talk to me about it, I’d just scream in their face. No one could get through to me.

“At the time Oli was a drug addict and I had a very nasty drug habit.”

The pair split in 2012 and Amanda has changed her life for the better.

She said: “I realised that I was not only destroying myself and my body, I was destroying my mind.”

Amanda has now quit the fashion world, saying on the YouTube video, “I couldn’t f***ing handle it. My body was a certain shape at that time but it was not that shape healthily.

“I needed a break. I’m getting the body I want in a healthy way.”

Amanda Hendricks in an advert

And she added: “I’m not ruling out high fashion again. I would appreciate it more now.”

Julie Hannah: Constant pressure to stay a size six

AS A former model, I’ve seen first-hand the lengths some girls go to to stay slim.

Amanda has been really brave to talk about her experiences with anorexia.

As a public figure with more than 35,000 social media followers, her comments will educate lots of young girls who dream of having a modelling career like hers.

It’s only a small minority of models who actually suffer from eating disorders but for everyone, there’s constant pressure to stay a size six or eight and make sure they fit into designer’s tiny samples.

As style editor of the Record, I try to be kind to models and give them positive feedback rather than hurtful comments. If models become too skinny, I’ll call their agency and say I can’t use them until they put a bit of weight back on.

Let’s face it, the industry won’t change overnight. Promoting healthy eating and teaching models how to deal with criticism of their bodies is what will make the difference in the short term.

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